Welcome to The Carbon Accounting and Management Podcast, presented by North Star Carbon Management. I'm your host, Chris Barzman. Whether you're tackling the carbon footprint of a multinational corporation or a small business, this podcast is your go-to resource for all things carbon management.

As someone who has been in the trenches of environmental management for over a decade, I've witnessed the evolution of the industry and the growing urgency for actionable and effective carbon strategies. Throughout this podcast series, you’ll gain insights from leading experts in the field, hear about the latest innovations in technology, and learn about the regulatory changes that could impact your business.

Having completed numerous carbon inventories for both small and large businesses across various industries, I understand the complexities and challenges of accurately measuring, reporting, and reducing carbon emissions. More importantly, I also realize that many people tasked with leading an organizations’ carbon management plan don’t have a strong background in this area and are always looking for easy to absorb information that fits into their already busy schedules, hence the decision to create this podcast.

In e ach episode, we'll dive deep into critical topics such as emerging trends in carbon accounting, how to navigate the challenges of data collection and analysis, and the best practices for sustainable carbon management. We'll provide you with actionable tips, detailed case studies, and thoughtful commentary to help you not just meet, but exceed your environmental targets.

We’re here to empower you with knowledge and tools that will not only enhance your professional capabilities but also contribute to your organization’s sustainability goals. Our mission is to foster a community of professionals who are equipped to take on environmental challenges with confidence and foresight.

We do really want to incorporate listener feedback along the way, so please be sure to comment on episodes or reach out to us directly at podcast@northstarcarbon.com. We are always looking for ways to improve and find new and interesting topics to share and discuss.

Please make sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and share it with others that might also be interested. Stay connected with us through our website at www.northstarcarbon.com and follow us on LinkedIn for updates and more tips and ideas.

On behalf of myself, your host Chris Barzman and the entire North Star Carbon Management team, thank you for investing your time with us and we look forward to serving our listener community!

Michele is the Founder and CEO of Boundless Impact Research & Analytics, an industry research and impact analytics platform that provides quantitative and evidence-based research and data for investors, companies, and funds. Boundless offers Scope 1, 2 & 3 climate data and analysis and market intelligence across a growing number of emerging sectors that address significant environmental challenges.

From 2010-2013, she was Vice President at Foundation Source where she built a knowledge platform on best practices in philanthropy that was used by a network of 1200 family offices. From 2007-2008, Michele was Director of Communications for Humanity United, a philanthropic entity created by Pam Omidyar and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. She has been involved in the successful development of more than two-dozen startups and is regularly called upon for her innovative thinking about environmental impact measurement.

Michele advises and mentors several emerging clean tech companies and projects and has a proven track record in building new technologies, research methodologies, and companies. She has 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business executive, and impact measurement expert.

Michele is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and has a Master’s in International Relations and Communications from Boston University.

Michele Joins the Carbon Accounting and Management Podcast to Discuss:

• Life cycle assessments and best practices
• Setting up and defining boundaries
• Strategies for delivering information to clients
• Avoiding greenwashing
• Importance of using independent experts

Michele's Listener Takeaway: If there's only one thing that our guests take away from this conversation, what do you think it should be?

I would like everyone to understand that lifecycle assessment and like environmental impact measurement is not a 'nice to have.' It's an urgent 'need to have.' We're moving to a carbon price world where companies that are not doing honest reporting on their emissions and their environmental performance are going to now have negative balance sheets and stranded assets and a lot of problems. The companies that are thinking ahead, integrating renewable energy into their supply chains and value in their operations, purchasing and integrating sustainability strategies into products or ways of doing business into their work, they are the ones that are going to be the stocks to invest in. For investors, it would behoove them to not look at this lifecycle assessment and objective LCA data and things like that as something that's just nice to have, but something they absolutely must have in order to derisk an investment.

I would encourage people to be skeptical about the data that's being thrown out there. The data's either being greenwashed a lot way too often, or companies are saying, 'Hey, we've got really impressive emissions.' They're kind of bragging about a number of emissions that is really not very impressive. It's really when you're in the gigatons and megatons of emissions reduction that you're a game changing technology. If you are doing only tons or kilotons, it's not even worth mentioning, because you're not really making a difference. That's the one thing I've noticed, people are not aware of the kind of scale they need to achieve in order to be a game changer. There's an awful lot of folks out there that are doing a little bit, but they're not doing enough. The investors are really focused on the technologies that have gigaton and megaton emissions reduction potential, and I think that's great. Breakthrough Energy Ventures is one of them that actually has a target set. I think there's just a lot of education that investors need to do on how to measure and understand that and set targets for themselves.

Connect with Michele Demers on LinkedIn or at mdemers@boundlessimpact.net, and learn more about the work being done at Boundless Impact at boundlessimpact.net or on LinkedIn.

Miranda Mair is a Senior Carbon Advisor at ENGIE Impact, where she is excited to have an opportunity to help her clients tackle the environmental challenges that come with a changing climate and energy landscape. Miranda’s background as a broadcast meteorologist helps her every day as she guides clients through the science of greenhouse gas assessments and climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, as well as complex air quality analyses. Her favorite part is communicating these approaches and results to stakeholders, which she learned to do early on as a broadcast meteorologist at the start of her career. These days she’s less focused on the local 7-day forecast and more concerned with how to make a positive impact globally for our next several decades.

Miranda Joins the Carbon Accounting and Management Podcast to Discuss:

• Advice for getting started, collecting data, and setting organizational boundaries
• Ancillary benefits of carbon inventories
• Target reductions
• Tips for rebaselining as data collection processes improve
• Inventory management plans

Miranda's Listener Takeaway: If there's only one thing that our guests take away from this conversation, what do you think it should be?

Carbon is currency, and you need to have good accountants working with you. As a company that has carbon software, software can be a great tool, but if you are any more complex, you probably want to have some consultants and some great advice and carbon advisors to help you through that process. I liken it to doing your taxes. Most people can get by doing their taxes if you have a fairly simple portfolio of assets. But if you start to have a lot of balls in the air, you're going to want to hire a good tax accountant because it makes a big difference. You wouldn't be using TurboTax for your corporate taxes for a business. I think framing it like that helps people realize that you really do get some value from having someone help guide you through this process and help to uncover areas that you can improve, ways that you can make this easier, and make it repeatable year over year.

Learn more about Miranda Mair on LinkedIn and learn more about the work being done at ENGIE Impact at https://www.engieimpact.com/.